Point is if loading is part of the actual job that they are allocated, they should do it, if they won’t ■■■■ them off, fine the agencies that they came from, who will in turn dock it from their wage, and get someone in who will do it properly.
robroy:
Point is if loading is part of the actual job that they are allocated, they should do it, if they won’t [zb] them off, fine the agencies that they came from, who will in turn dock it from their wage, and get someone in who will do it properly.
Good point. Don`t blame agency drivers for lack of competent management.
nightline:
nsmith1180:
Kerragy:
Why don’t you suggest another name we can use for an agency driver that would save us a few keystrokes?How about ‘driver’, we are no less qualified than many of you, why do we need to distinguish between the two?
James the cat:
All this wanting to work hours you want any old time, self employed business is corrosive to working conditions in the longer term. Short sighted. I don’t have a great opinion of long term “lifestyle” limpers.Why don’t you have a great opinion of those of us who don’t tie into the company line just for a quiet and easy life? Why are we the subject of your scorn because we are willing to take the more difficult route to achieve the work/life balance we want?
The point I was making, and it was a serious point by the way is that several of the recent uses of the term limper, and the recent possibly auto-correct induced use of the term Limpet have come across is insulting. People on here tend to use the term Limper to describe someone under qualified, incompetent and of generally unsavory appeal and appearance. It is the setting in which the term is used which makes it offensive.
I would also point out that while there are some agency drivers are are under qualified, incompetent and of generally unsavory appeal and appearance, there are many more who are not. There are also many full timers who fit the same description.
Most of us are skilled men, more skilled than the average full timer on direct comparison because we have to be. We don’t know what wagon we will be driving from one day to the next, what job we will be doing. Many have every additional qualification under the sun, ADR, Hiab, Moffet et al because we never know when we might need to use them. (I dont btw claim to have moffet or ADR yet but will be doing my ADR in November ish and probably wont do a moffet, not enough work to make it pay back.)
Full timers on the other hand tend to be a lot more specialised. They have been driving the same wagon since the days of Churchill and know it inside and out, they are experts in the doing of their specific job, be it trunking, brick and block, containers or whatever. We are the Jacks of all trades, you are the Masters of one and there is a place for all of us. But there is no need for slang terms, insulting or otherwise to distinguish between the two.
Very well said, most on here would be afraid to work for agency because they would not be able to drive different trucks every day, it would put the fear of god into them and that’s why they are not professionals at what they do and post here to get a feeling of they think they are and slag people off, it sticks out a mile
hahahahahahahahaha! Lol! 
split me ■■■■■■ sides.
profitaccumulator.co.uk/idev … hp?id=5844
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
yorkielee:
+1 my mates work for a large high street company in there warehouse as flt drivers. There on £9.50 ish a hour
Funny thing is most of the “full time pros” would dream of a wage like that. But doing 60 hours makes up for it 
He’s gone quiet. It’s the witching hour betwixt Sunday and Monday, maybe the phone has just rung for a job
m_attt:
yorkielee:
+1 my mates work for a large high street company in there warehouse as flt drivers. There on £9.50 ish a hourFunny thing is most of the “full time pros” would dream of a wage like that. But doing 60 hours makes up for it
And they get loads of benefits like sick pay after you have been there 2 years. Get a extra days holiday for every year you work there. Max is 5 extra. They used to have Xmas bonus and a night out where you get raffle tickets to win laptops iPhones TVs fridges iPads kids bikes then stuff like bedding n kitchen stuff n shopping vouchers. Thing is the Xmas parties stopped as the agency wasn’t invited but some had worked there longer than new full timers. But you also got agency who would come and go. Now the full timers just get a bonus in there pay at xmas if they also do the savers club thing they have.
Makes you think all the management n bigwigs get this sort of stuff why can’t us little fish
James the cat:
He’s gone quiet. It’s the witching hour betwixt Sunday and Monday, maybe the phone has just rung for a job
The agency called and said if you can limp to ■■■ within 30 mins we’ll put an extra £20 on your standard day rate as it’s a Bank Holiday.
He’s jumped at it as he’s scared that if he says no the phone will never ring again… 
I’ve just realised, shouldn’t I be fighting the limpers corner? 
Evil8Beezle:
He’s hopped at it as he’s scared that if he says no the Bluetooth implant will never ring again…
Hope you don’t mind, I took the liberty of adjusting
Evil8Beezle:
I’ve just realised, shouldn’t I be fighting the limpers corner?
No Evil you’re with us now. You have a healthy sense of humour, you can’t be a true limper.
Evil8Beezle:
We can whine and ■■■■■ as much as we like about agencies, but only the government, or rather us can force change.
I thought that’s what I said, maybe you put it more straight-forward than I. The truth of the matter is that the agencies and companies are quite happy with the situation as it is, and the government has shown no interest in getting involved. Even the Transport Committee Report, as discussed on here, concluded that the best way forward was for the government and industry to work together. So the only changes brought forward will be ones that suit government and industry.
Meanwhile workers continue to work for unscrupulous agencies, being treat like dog sh for crap rates of pay - and still keep going back!! And these are not just immigrants being taken advantage of but Brits willing to work at these places. It’s fairly obvious that the UK is heading for a low wage economy but whilst the workers themselves are willing to accept this low wage topped up by tax credits and any other benefits going scenario the status quo will remain.
yorkielee:
m_attt:
yorkielee:
+1 my mates work for a large high street company in there warehouse as flt drivers. There on £9.50 ish a hourFunny thing is most of the “full time pros” would dream of a wage like that. But doing 60 hours makes up for it
And they get loads of benefits like sick pay after you have been there 2 years. Get a extra days holiday for every year you work there. Max is 5 extra. They used to have Xmas bonus and a night out where you get raffle tickets to win laptops iPhones TVs fridges iPads kids bikes then stuff like bedding n kitchen stuff n shopping vouchers. Thing is the Xmas parties stopped as the agency wasn’t invited but some had worked there longer than new full timers. But you also got agency who would come and go. Now the full timers just get a bonus in there pay at xmas if they also do the savers club thing they have.
Makes you think all the management n bigwigs get this sort of stuff why can’t us little fish
Im PAYE so get all those benefits too. Inc fuel paid, bonus for extra shifts, xmas etc etc
The only benefits you get are to top up your dole in January.
Maybe this year will be this fabled “quiet” month hasnt happened in the last four years. But a month off would be nice, fingers crossed.
Also if it happens keep working hard for me, ill look forward to you funding my extended xmas an new year.
You’ve only got to look at a job website to see how many different agencies have got their fingers in so many different pies. Employed driving jobs are a rarity on the likes of Indeed and Monster. There seem to be loads of new agencies springing up every week, all trying to be slightly different than the others, such as agencies for ex-military drivers, or by putting adverts up that look like employed jobs, until you get to the “our client” bit that gives it away.
As an ex-employee of the red and green firm, what wound me up most was that I couldn’t get a Monday to Friday contract, because of “lack of work and vehicles on Tuesdays and Wednesdays”, but yet the agency, The Logistics People, were handing-out permanent full-time Monday to Friday contracts to their drivers like they were going out of fashion! They also got the newest vehicles, and the longest, cushiest runs, but that could have never been proved. The firm have allowed themselves to become so reliant on agencies, that they now have to lick their arses to keep them coming and supplying their drivers, which they so desperately need, so their full-timers go to the back of the queue.
What gets me is that to a faceless manager, if the wheels of one of his trucks are turning, I imagine he doesn’t care who’s at the wheel, whether it’s a loyal, full-timer with 20 years of UK driving experience, or a Bulgarian agency driver, straight-off the Pride of Burgundy, and the ink on his licence still wet. Without having to worry about sick pay, holiday pay, and over-staffing in quiet periods, the manager can just place his order with an agency, and the next day his required number of drivers are there. If they could just trim a pound or so per hour from an agency man’s rate, agencies could become cheaper than employed drivers, and there goes direct employment, especially for the unscrupulous, corporate firms. Just my way of thinking anyway.
Rottweiler22:
You’ve only got to look at a job website to see how many different agencies have got their fingers in so many different pies. Employed driving jobs are a rarity on the likes of Indeed and Monster. There seem to be loads of new agencies springing up every week, all trying to be slightly different than the others, such as agencies for ex-military drivers, or by putting adverts up that look like employed jobs, until you get to the “our client” bit that gives it away.As an ex-employee of the red and green firm, what wound me up most was that I couldn’t get a Monday to Friday contract, because of “lack of work and vehicles on Tuesdays and Wednesdays”, but yet the agency, The Logistics People, were handing-out permanent full-time Monday to Friday contracts to their drivers like they were going out of fashion! They also got the newest vehicles, and the longest, cushiest runs, but that could have never been proved. The firm have allowed themselves to become so reliant on agencies, that they now have to lick their arses to keep them coming and supplying their drivers, which they so desperately need, so their full-timers go to the back of the queue.
What gets me is that to a faceless manager, if the wheels of one of his trucks are turning, I imagine he doesn’t care who’s at the wheel, whether it’s a loyal, full-timer with 20 years of UK driving experience, or a Bulgarian agency driver, straight-off the Pride of Burgundy, and the ink on his licence still wet. Without having to worry about sick pay, holiday pay, and over-staffing in quiet periods, the manager can just place his order with an agency, and the next day his required number of drivers are there. If they could just trim a pound or so per hour from an agency man’s rate, agencies could become cheaper than employed drivers, and there goes direct employment, especially for the unscrupulous, corporate firms. Just my way of thinking anyway.
I countered this reasonable discussion point and limping dear Dedre got her defensive knickers in a bunch
Stanley Knife:
Meanwhile workers continue to work for unscrupulous agencies, being treat like dog sh for crap rates of pay - and still keep going back!!
Maybe its because the wages aren’t as crap as you think and the agency don’t treat them as bad as you think they do either. Given my experience of agencies over the last 20 years if you think the rate of pay the agencies are paying their drivers is dog crap then what does that say about the wages that the permanent drivers are getting given that out of all the agency clients I’ve worked for since 1994 just one pays their own drivers more than the agency drivers are getting, a situation I expect is mirrored throughout the rest of the UK?
I haven’t been on this forum long but have to say its a right laugh reading all the ribbing!
Maybe its just because I’m the root of all evil - a part time agency truck ■■■■/limper/limpet 
, or maybe its because I’m fairly new to the industry having came from a career in aviation and running my own company, but why is there so many flippin sensitive types!
Man up, don’t work for less than you think you’re worth, make yourself indispensable with qualifications, take yer time, don’t hit owt if you can help it, don’t take sh**t from knobbers in offices pushing you (they soon wind their necks in when you have a word with em), roll yer sleeves up, take a bit of pride in your work and crack on to get the job done safely and legally!
Agency’s have there place for sure as do the full timers whom i doth my cap to, just seems to me a lot of the problems could be cured by folk willing to take a stand for themselves or using some initiative!
Now, where’s that popcorn…
hamletbarnard:
I haven’t been on this forum long but have to say its a right laugh reading all the ribbing!Maybe its just because I’m the root of all evil - a part time agency truck ■■■■/limper/limpet
Man up, don’t work for less than you think you’re worth, make yourself indispensable with qualifications, take yer time, don’t hit owt if you can help it, don’t take sh**t from knobbers in offices pushing you (they soon wind their necks in when you have a word with em), roll yer sleeves up, take a bit of pride in your work and crack on to get the job done safely and legally!
Agency’s have there place for sure as do the full timers whom i doth my cap to, just seems to me a lot of the problems could be cured by folk willing to take a stand for themselves or using some initiative!
Now, where’s that popcorn…
Truck ■■■■ - classic
Careful though, with an attitude to our work like yours you might find people thinking you are normal or something…
Am a part time agency driver, I spend 6 months year on holiday, it is 28c in the Loire valley at the moment, and yeah I do have a limp.
tommie1shunt:
Am a part time agency driver, I spend 6 months year on holiday, it is 28c in the Loire valley at the moment, and yeah I do have a limp.
I’d wager that you don’t give a ■■■■ what an anonymous user on a forum calls you either?